This is a Re edited version since when i originally uploaded this the doc manager on the site deleted most of Goodwitches lines.
Beo didn't know what he did wrong. And if he did well he was positive he hadn't broken any of the rules Goodwitch had laid out for him.
As far as he knew he hadn't attacked any students or disrupted any of the professors during class. Or had used his semblance in an excessive way, at least not today anyway.
Which is why he was confused. Since Goodwitch had decided to hold their daily reviews not in her office or in his room but in Ozpin's office instead. Why Yang was also here just added to the confusion.
"So" Ozpin began, "Which of you would like to begin explaining just what happened last night?"
Last night? Was that what this was about? Beo thought as Yang began to laugh sheepishly.
"Whaa? Sorry Headmaster I don't know what you mean, I mean I was just here, y'know studying like a good student and all helpin Beo learn his ummm math?" Yang said unconvincingly.
"Math? but I am good at math." Beo scribbled onto his board and showed it to Yang.
"No! stupid your horrible at math remember!" She said through her teeth quickly erased his scribbled message.
Goodwitch sighed "Mr. Cobalt " she said.
Beo immediately went rigid as she called him out.
"Three hundred fifty-two plus four hundred sixty-three times two is what?"
Beo thought for a moment before he began scribbling the answer on his board. And as he was about to show it to Goodwitch, Yang snatched it out of his hand and threw it behind the two of them as it shattered against the far wall.
"So like I said, helping him with his math." Yang said with a smile.
Beo just looked between her and the shattered remains of his board. And he frowned and glared at her. He liked that board.
"Do you know exactly what those numbers were Ms. Xiao Long?" Professor Ozpin said taking another sip of his coffee.
"Beo's pop quiz?"
"Those numbers Ms. Xiao Long represents the total amount of Lien in damages, medical bills from the owner and security team of a place called "Junior's Club" as well as fines for several traffic violations. For a total of one thousand six hundred and thirty Lien." Goodwitch said giving Beo a notepad and pencil.
Yang gave a nervous laugh. As she scrambled to think of a clever excuse while Beo scribbled something onto the notepad.
"Oh I remember that place! It was loud and smells weird."
"Beo not helping! I mean whatever do you mean Professor?" Yang said.
"Please Ms. Xiao Long." Ozpin said. "Last night aside, there are several things that I would like to discuss this afternoon. And I think that a good starting place would be let's see oh yes. How about we start with the events of Monday and work our way to last night."
"Monday?" Beo wrote. What was so different about Monday?
"Think they mean what happened at lunch dude."
Lunch? Wait they can't be serious? Well if they insisted. He thought as he began using a mixture of drawings and words to retell what happened that day.
It started out as any normal day did. With Beo sneaking back into his room through the window after spending the night sleeping on the roof under the stars.
He hardly ever slept in the small, nearly featureless room they had given him except for when it rained. Finding it more comforting to spend most nights on the roof. It was quiet and reminded him of his home in the forest, minus the threat of Grimm running through his grotto in the night.
He was alone up there most nights, but lately he had seen Jaune meeting with Pyrrha from his perch. He didn't really know what they would talk about when they were up there and he didn't really care. Something about Jaune being a fraud or something? Whatever that meant. Then they would fight each other, or at least that's what it looked like. It was closer to Pyrrha holding back immensely and Jaune flailing around like newborn boartusk. But they usually left after an hour so it wasn't too much of a distraction.
After returning to his room Beo would bathe and prepare for whatever the day had in store. As it turns out that shower contraption that he had in his room was much more convenient than when he needed to use the stream near his grotto. Although he was a little wary of it at first, since it when he first used it he burned himself slightly with the hot water. What he was still getting used to was his reflection in the mirror.
Ever since Yang and her friend's assault on his head after she set the ends of his hair on fire he had started to make double takes when he passed mirrors when he saw himself with much shorter, less than shoulder length spiky hair that looked like it was in a perpetual bedhead.
After getting dressed and taking a swig of Beowulf blood from the water bottle he got from Goodwitch after Port's class a few days ago. He made his way towards the spot in the main pavilion where he would meet Goodwitch in the mornings. While he waited he practiced writing in the workbooks that had been given to him while watching and listening to the people passing him by. As he sat underneath one of the larger trees across from the fountain in the center of the pavilion.
Most of the time they would complain about the homework the night before, or gush about how excited they were for the trip to a place called Forever Fall. Whatever that was, it sounded like a big waterfall to him. Sometimes while he did this he would block his ears, and try and focus his blood enhanced eyes to try and read the lips of whoever was talking. He had gotten pretty good at it too. Well at least to some extent he got a few strange glances every now and then but he paid them no mind.
He spent a good twenty minutes or so eavesdropping on the students around him until his concentration was broken by a few familiar voices.
"Yo Beo, whats up?" Yang said walking over, Blake and Ruby not far behind.
"Nothing, waiting for Goodwitch. She's late for some reason." He wrote in the margin of his work book.
"Professor Goodwitch? Late? That's pretty weird." Ruby said peeking over Beo's shoulder "Ooh! What's that supposed to be!" She said pointing to a small doodle he had scribbled at the top of the page.
"Stinger."
"A wha?"
"Its a large Wasp like Grimm." Blake said.
"Oh...sounds...neat?"
"They are the second worst thing I found growing up." Beo wrote
"What was the first?'Yang asked. "Wait don't tell me...Bathing in the winter?"
"Sometimes it was the Big Bird other times the Big Scorpion."
"What not the Widow we fought? I'm hurt Beo I thought we had something special!" Yang said dramatically.
"I never went that far in until I met you. It smelt funny, didn't like it."
"Sarcasm buddy, don't worry we'll keep working on that." Yang said.
"Oh, well okay then, what are you all doing right now? Don't you have class soon?"
"We are waiting for the princess." Blake said with mild annoyance. "Apparently she wanted some alone time to collect her thoughts before class. What she means by that I have no idea."
"I can think of a few things."Yang said with a snicker.
"Oh please, do elaborate." Came Weiss's voice from behind them. A cross look on her face. "And before you decide on spouting off some sort of perverse nonsense, I was speaking with someone on the phone."
"Fine take all the fun outta it Ice Queen." Yang said under her breath.
"And I never asked you to wait for me." Weiss said.
"But we're a team!" Ruby said. "We can't just leave you behind, that wouldn't be right."
"You act like it affects our grades." Said Weiss.
"I think what Ruby means is the principle behind doing things as a team, promotes well, teamwork." Blake said
"Yeah that!" Ruby said.
Did Weiss not understand that? Even Beo understood that the pack was only deadly when it worked in unison. If there was a weak link then rest of the pack suffered.
"The pack is only as strong as the weakest member." Beo wrote.
"Oh really? First you imply that I am inefficient when it comes dealing with Grimm and now you are calling me a weak link? You have some nerve!" Weiss snapped.
"I did not say that, I called you wasteful and showed you why." Beo scribbled, was she still upset about that? It wasn't his fault she had a weak stomach. "And I have seen what happens to packs that do not stick together."
"Oh please do continue to enlighten us oh so wise and literate mute." Weiss said condescendingly.
If there was an insult somewhere in her words Beo didn't pick it up, the rest of her team however could taste the venom dripping from her words.
"They get eaten." Was all that Beo had written down at the bottom of the page.
There was silence for a minute after they had read that which wasn't broken until the scroll that Goodwitch had given him a week ago began to ring and buzz. It actually startled him, he still was trying to figure out how this small fragile thing worked. There were already a few cracks in it from when he had accidentally dropped it when it had gone off the first time.
" Mr. Cobalt, Please report to the main training hall, we have decided that you will be joining today's training session. Our regular routine will continue afterwards. -Goodwitch" Showed on the screen. After seeing it Beo got up from underneath the tree and began to make his way towards the training hall.
"Wait hey Beo where you goin?" Yang called out catching up to him.
"Class." He wrote. "I am joining today's training session."
"Oh ok." Yang said. "Wait What!"
"Alright so, Ms. Xiao Long." Ozpin began. "Would you mind giving some insight into the beginning of that particular training session?"
"Um, you don't want Beo to finish his side of the story?" Yang said looking at the Man-Grimm who was hard at work scribbling down the next chapter of his tale.
Ozpin took a sip from his coffee cup and gave a small chuckle.
"Just to fill in the gaps. Both for the record and between 's pages."
"Alright then, well when we got to class I-"
Yang had no idea what was going on. She had expected Beo to eventually join Goodwitch's training class but not until he at least had an aura or something. Yeah she knew that Beo could fight and hold his own, well against Gimm at least. But other people? He was either going to get his ass handed to him or he was going to kill somebody.
Although part of her was excited at the possibility that she might get to face off against Beo in the ring. And the Weiss' reaction when she saw his name on the roster for potential match-ups was priceless.
The first few matches passed without any real fanfare hell, even her own sparring match was surprisingly dull. The guy she was set to face off against decided that today would be a good day to show off this fancy electrified poleaxe and the part where he was supposed to use it. The match ended almost as soon as it began with a single three punch combination ending with a left hook to his temple. After that he dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Honestly she was a bit disappointed, she at least wanted a bit of a workout. Maybe she'd get lucky and her next match-up would be against Blake or maybe Pyrrha. And not long after her match ended Professor Goodwitch called out the next pairing.
"Thank you Long. Now what you should all take away from this is that it matters not what your weapon is capable of because it is only useful to a huntsmen when it is being used." Goodwitch said "Now moving onto the next match. Ms. Rose, if you would please head to the locker rooms to prepare your gear and then please enter the arena, and you as well Mr. Cobalt."
Oh it looked like Ruby and Beo were up next. Wait. Ruby and Beo? Yang thought as her mind did several double takes. What was Professor Goodwitch thinking!? As far as she knew the only fighting Beo had ever done against another human was when he broke out of the ICU a month ago. Sure he did alright but this was different. Ruby has been training for years. And had been tutored by their Uncle Qrow during breaks.
But that didn't mean she was opposed to seeing this match-up. Watching Ruby fight was always a good time. And well she was curious how Beo would adjust from Grimm to people. Goodwitch probably told him killing was banned right?
As Beo and Ruby made their way out of the locker rooms and onto the training floor, Ruby looked like a kid in a candy store. Yang could tell that she was excited in that way only Ruby got when she had the chance to spar with someone new. Beo on the other hand looked uncomfortable. Most likely because of what he was wearing.
Yang had a hard time controlling her laughter when she saw Beo walk out onto the training floor wearing a bulky padded combat suit with small silver discs placed along the shoulders, forearms and various other places on his body. He looked almost like a kid dressing up as an Atlas soldier for Halloween.
"pfffssnk, oh Beo what the hell is Goodwitch making you wear?" Yang said
"It looks like an Atlesian Advanced Infantry Suit." Weiss said matter of factly.
"Umm, which is?" Yang said.
"Ha, must I explain everything to you all?" Weiss sighed. "They were originally designed for soldiers that either had little to no aura reserves. The nodes on the suit use a supply of dust to project a protective barrier similar to an aura. But they fell out of favor quickly due to how well, cumbersome they could be."
"Didn't think you knew so much about the history of Atlesian military tech Weiss. Honestly i'm shocked." Blake said, glancing up from her book.
"Well one must be informed when your company holds many contracts with the military industrial complex."Weiss said.
"Ug figures."Blake muttered.
"Heeeyyy looking good Beo!" Yang shouted laughing.
Beo almost seemed to glare at her through the protective helmet. Before he looked at his hands for a moment as if trying to remember something before flashing his middle finger towards Yang, a massive grin across his face.
"Wait did he just-" Blake began
"Yeah." Yang said faking a weep "He learns so fast."
A small bit of laughter traveled throughout the classroom before Goodwitch silenced it with a glare.
"Ahem. Mr. Cobalt, Miss Rose, to the center of the arena please." She said as she pressed some buttons on her tablet as photos of Beo and Ruby appeared on the large screen above the arena. Two bars representing their aura levels appearing beneath each of their icons.
"I will now once again explain the rules." Goodwitch said. "You are unrestricted in your methods and techniques during this exercise. However any sort of ammunition dust powered or otherwise have been replaced with rubber bullets. This does not mean you should hold back. As I have said before, the reason why we train like this is to be prepared for anything. As huntsmen you will not just be fighting against grimm sometimes mankind can become far worse than the monsters outside the walls of our cities."
The rest of the room was silent as Goodwitch's words sank in before the starting gong rang.
"Begin" Goodwitch said.
"You ready Beo!?" Ruby shouted from across the arena. As the massive block of red and black steel unfolded from her back into the shape of a massive rifle.
A shot rang out as Ruby rocketed herself off to the side at a blinding speed leaving only a trail of rose petals in her wake.
Beo had seen what Ruby's weapon was capable of and how much damage it can deal. The sheer amount of speed she generated made it almost impossible for Beo to keep track of where she was. The limited peripheral vision from the helmet made it nearly impossible to track her movements.
Before Beo could move to try and intercept where he thought she might go,he felt something slam into his side knocking his breath away. Looking down he saw as Ruby brought the spiked end of the handle up towards his face, Beo dodged out of the way just as another shot fired propelling the rest of the weapon down in a deadly arc as Crescent Rose's blade unfurled into its large and intimidating scythe form. The large blade pierced into the ground just barely avoiding carving a chunk out of Beo's chest.
Beo's eyes went wide as Ruby yanked the scythe out of the ground effortlessly and rested the massive blade on her shoulder. Before Ruby had a chance to let loose another barrage of attacks Beo did the only thing he could think of in that exact moment. He got up, held his dagger in his hand, and dashed as fast as he could in the opposite direction in a futile attempt to put some distance between himself and the small red-headed reaper.
He would have moved much faster, but the damnable aura suit that Goodwitch made him wear was so bulky compared to what he was used to fighting in that he felt like he was trying to run through the forest in the winter.
There was another blast from behind him as Beo felt the impact of one of Ruby's bullets slam into his back. Beo turned to see another red blur zip off to the side and into the air as Ruby brought her scythe down shouting a battle time catching the Man-Grimm in the shoulder. The force causing him to slam into the eastern wall of the training floor.
He got up slowly, that should have killed him, or at least hurt, a lot. But it didn't, it was just another thing he found he hated about this suit. He couldn't feel anything around him, no pain, not the wind generated by Ruby's speed, he barely felt the impact of her shots and scythe. The force was there for sure but there was no pain. But that was the problem. There was no pain. How could Goodwitch or anyone expect to fight seriously if there was no pain or at least, no threat of pain.
Beo glanced up at the screen, the meter for the suit's artificial aura shield had barely moved. Did that mean that it barely did anything? Beo didn't understand the specifics behind any of the technical aspects of the suits purpose or why he needed to wear it. But seeing that meter barely move, made him angry.
He wanted it off, to fight uninhibited, the fear of death or injury pushing him forward. But he knew that Goodwitch would stop the fight if she saw him starting to take it off, but as soon as he looked at where Ruby's scythe had made contact, he got an idea.
"You ready for another one Beo cause here I cooommmee!" Ruby shouted from across the area.
Beo only had a split second to react, as Ruby rocketed towards him Beo lowered himself and dashed to meet her, well as fast as he could go anyways while stumbling around like a children's punch toy. And right before Ruby made contact Beo raised his right arm up and turned the side, causing most of Crescent Rose's blade to catch on a loose bit of plating.
There was an audible slicing sound as the two fighters changed places. A large chunk of the protective aura suit dangling off the end of Ruby's scythe. A thin red line slowly appeared across Ruby's face. When she wiped away the small amount of blood her aura had already begun to heal the more minor wounds.
She turned around to face Beo. He was still crouched low, most of the protective suit falling away from him as stood, most of the suit had been destroyed by Crescent Rose's blade leaving only remnants of the suit's pants and a bit of one sleeve. Beo said nothing as he tore the rest of the suit's top half and helmet off leaving only the black undershirt he wore underneath.
His eyes fell not on his opponent or the onlookers in the crowd, but to the blood that was left on the edge of his dagger. Without hesitating Beo slid his tongue across the flat of the blade and swallowed what little blood remained on it. He wasn't sure exactly what would happen when he did this. It wasn't like he had really tested what happens when he took in the blood of a human. He had only really done it once when he had first met Yang and he had only really felt a slight burning sensation throughout his body but other than that, no real change.
This time however was different. He could hear his heart beating in his ears and pounding in his chest, almost like it was going to burst out of his chest. The voices of the students in the crowd began to fade as the dark blue aura flared with hints of red. Ruby dashed to the left, but her movements seemed slower than before, she was no longer a blur of red petals and gunpowder residue but a fully formed body that Beo's eyes were able to follow.
Ruby looked surprised when Beo not only followed her movements but dodged out of the way of her strike. Ducking beneath the blade as it came across in a wide horizontal arc.
He dodged the next two strikes just as easily, stepping out of the scythe's reach each time before Beo dashed forward, his dagger lashing out towards Ruby's midsection. The young huntress however fired a shot to her right the recoil from the blast sending her out of reach of Beo's strike.
Beo felt the flat of Crescent Rose's blade slam into the back of his head. Knocking him into the dirt. His head spun as he got back on his feet. Ruby's movements slowing down as she came to a stop around thirty feet away from him. Beo shook the dizziness from his head, his heart beating faster and faster. He smiled before dashing forward once again. The speed he gained from Ruby's blood making it difficult to control exactly where he was going. But he didn't care, the only thing on his mind at that moment was the fight.
As Beo let loose another flurry of slashes towards Ruby. The young huntress' dodged nearly every one of his attacks. To those looking on from the sidelines the fight looked like a blur of dust and rose petals as the two fighters darted around the arena. The sound of blades clashing rang out as Ruby and Beo exchanged blows. When the dust settled Beo was bracing himself against the far eastern wall. Even with the temporary boost in speed he had gotten from Ruby's blood he only managed to land glancing blows on the younger girl. A sharp pain shot down his arm when he went to ready himself for another clash. His left arm hung limp by his side. He must have dislocated it when he blocked one of Ruby's strikes or accidentally ran into the wall during the last clash.
He couldn't keep this up for much longer already he could feel the fatigue setting in, the effects of Ruby's blood wearing off. He needed more. Or at least, something to give him a boost. He reached for the bottle of Beowulf blood on his belt only to find it wasn't there. His eyes darted around the arena floor and spotted it ten or so feet behind his opponent. If he were to get to it he would need to act fast. Faster than he was currently moving and faster than Ruby.
Still, as his mind began putting the pieces of his attack plan together a small part of his brain wondered if this was how Ruby always saw the world. Like it was set in slow motion, everyone trying to catch up to where you already were. It was a strange feeling having your brain and body move nearly ten times faster than it was intended, granted he was used to that sensation somewhat thanks to his time in the forest, however comparing the boost in speed given by something like Beowulf and Boartusk blood to Ruby's. Was like adding a shot of pure adrenaline into your veins as opposed to your body making more than needed.
In that span of a few seconds Beo had mapped out his route and rocketed forward. Straight towards Ruby as she leveled the barrel of Crescent Rose towards his chest. Beo watched Ruby's eyes squint as she took aim, she had him, one shot would be all it took to take him down for good and he knew that, even with the enhanced speed he wouldn't be able to dodge let alone deflect the shot. Beo braced himself mentally for the pain as the shot rang out. But there was no pain. No. Instead the ground to his right erupted in a cloud of dirt.
Did she miss? No. That's not right, she had no problem hitting him before when he still had the bulky armor on. Was it because he was faster now? No that too didn't make any sense she was far more used to operating at this speed than he was so hitting him when he was making a straight dash towards her should have been child's play.
Unless she wasn't trying to hit him.
No. No that couldn't be it could it? Why? Even if she hit him directly the bullets she was firing were made of rubber. It would hurt but no matter what it wouldn't be lethal at this range so why?
Ruby fired another shot, this time it struck Beo in the leg. The sudden impact causing him to stumble and grind to a halt in the dirt. Beo looked up at Ruby, blood flowing down his forehead and into one of his eyes. Beo had expected to see Ruby readying another attack to end the fight but instead there was an uncomfortable look in her eyes, she shifted her gaze between her rifle and him. He got to his feet, a pain shooting up his left arm and into his shoulder as he got back into a fighting stance, probably dislocated from the fall.
Why? Why was she looking at him like that? Like some sort of wounded pup? He took a step closer to her. By now the effects of her blood had worn off and he could feel the room spinning around him, his vision growing hazy and blurring in some spots.
He shook his head trying to clear it, focus, this was still a fight. He took a few shaky steps towards Ruby. Swinging his dagger wildly, his opponent stepped out of range of each of them, they may have been reckless but they were by no means weak swings.
He must have hit his head hard when he stumbled. By now the only thing Beo could focus on was Ruby herself. He took another step before he felt like all the energy had been sapped out of him and he fell to the ground unconscious.
"And what happened after that?" Ozpin asked.
"I woke up in the infirmary an hour later and my head hurt." Beo scribbled.
"Indeed. Doctor Shelly said that you passed out due to a massive drop in your metabolism, in short your body was unable to produce enough energy to keep you awake. Do you know why that was the case?"
"Wasn't used to it." Beo scribbled.
"Used to what ." Goodwitch said somewhat sternly. Beo straightened a bit and scribbled something quick on the notepad.
"Ruby's blood. It felt like running normally but everything else looked slow but at the end it felt like running through mud."
"From what I saw Beo you were moving pretty quick there." Yang commented "I mean, all I could see was a blur of rose petals and dust. Even if the fight only lasted like, a minute that's pretty Ruby's no push over after all."
She seemed proud of that last part. Beo didn't know if she was proud of Ruby for winning the fight or, of him for lasting as long as he did against her sister.
"Which brings me to the next point of this little, well let's call it a status briefing." Ozpin said "Obviously I haven't received any questions regarding Mr. Cobalt's unique semblance, so its obvious that you have done as I asked of you to keep its true nature hidden. I just wonder what exactly it was you told them, based on the footage it was very clear that Mr. Cobalt was mimicking Ms. Rose's semblance after delivering a small blow."
"Oh that?" Yang said. "I just told them that Beo's semblance was like a slow adaptation. The other stuff well. I kinda just told them its an intimidation thing. They seemed to buy that."
Beo shrugged. He still didn't see why that was a big deal. But Yang usually told her friends something which made the way they looked at him change from put off to intrigued.
"Right, so onto the next matter. Miss Xiao Long, please tell me what happened in the cafeteria later that day? Also please do include the things that were left out of the original incident report."
Beo wasn't looking forward to going over this incident. Not because of what happened no, it was because of the massive upside down mid air lecture he had received from Goodwitch later.
"Alright Professor. Well After Beo woke up we took him to the cafeteria and-"
It still surprised Yang just how much Beo could eat in a short amount of time. As she and her friends watched as Beo wolfed down an entire turkey and then quickly moved onto several bowls of mixed fruits.
"You have enough there bud?" She asked as Nora launched another grape towards her face. Yang caught it in her mouth with no trouble at all
Beo looked up, swallowed the chunk of melon was eating and thought for a moment before a gurgling sound emanated from his stomach and he reached across the table and took the steak off of Jaune's plate and began chomping on it.
"Where does he put it all?" Nora asked as Beo made it halfway through the t-bone steak. Flinging another grape in Yangs direction.
"Where do you put all those pancakes?" Ren said dryly taking a sip of tea.
"Hmph, as you know Ren I have a separate stomach for pancakes and other yummy treats." Nora said proudly
"Right...how could I forget." Ren said.
"Still though that was a pretty fun match Beo, I didn't know you could move that fast!" Ruby said "I mean it's been a while since I spared with someone who could move as fast as me it was really fun!"
Beo paused for a moment and looked at her before nodding slowly. By this point most of Jaune's steak had been thoroughly consumed.
"So c'mon how'd you do that? is your semblance like mine? oh oh or is it you can see into the future and predict my moves or maybe…" Ruby said speaking a million miles per hour. Honestly Yang felt a little sorry for Beo as struggled to answer her sister's barrage of questions.
But in the end she decided that as funny as it was to watch Beo's head spin like this she better intervene before he told her about the whole blood drinking thing.
"Pretty sure his semblance is like a weird type of environment adaptation. Least that's what Professor Goodwitch said." Yang said casually. "Like the longer he's in a fight his semblance adapts in smalls ways to improve his fighting"
Her explanation seemed to be good enough for her sister for the time being at least, no doubt Ruby would have a thousand more questions that neither she nor Beo would be able to answer.
It wasn't long until the conversation shifted to more mundane topics, nora kept launching grapes her way while Pyrrha tried her best to boost Jaune's mood as Beo continued to swipe food off of the plates of anyone who either wasn't paying attention didn't care. Seriously how much could he eat? Hell she was even surprised when it looked like Weiss was enjoying herself until a cry rang out from a couple tables in front of them.
"Ouch, stop it that hurts." A meek sounding Rabbit Faunus pleaded. While a group of four human boys poked and pulled at her ears.
Yang recognized the jackasses harassing the girl, after all Cardin Winchester and his lackeys were never far from their friend circle seeing how apparently they had taken a liking to pushing Jaune around as well.
"It must be tough being a faunus." Yang said, her voice filled with sympathy.
It wasn't a rare thing to see. A faunus being harassed by humans whether it was because of the attacks made by the White Fang or because of some left of resentment from the Great War. Jaune's face paled when he looked over towards Cardin's group.
"You should do something about them." Phyrra said "Cardin and his team have been harassing you for weeks."
"What? No, no they're not harassing me its just jokes is all just really painful jokes." Jaune squeaked.
"They're bullies." Phyrra said, eyes squinting towards her team leader.
After that, the conversation quickly turned into an argument between Blake and Weiss after the heiress made a not so subtle comment about faunus stereotypes. She knew Blake had her opinions on certain topics but she hadn't seen Blake get so fired up about something since they redecorated their dorm room a month ago.
It wasn't long until nearly everyone had put in their two cents on the topic. Yang herself believed that people had a right to do pretty much whatever they wanted despite their race or nationality, live and let live and all that. However that didn't mean she felt that groups like the White Fang were justified in acts of terror like they had been for the past few years.
Yang thought that the verbal war between Blake and Weiss was about to get physical which to her sounded like it could be mildly entertaining and a great thing to hang over their heads later.
"Hey guys, where's Beo?" Ruby asked probably trying to break up her teams argument.
"C'mon Rubes, he's still right...here...oh huh." Yang said as she looked to her left only to find an empty seat. Although, she wasn't exactly worried about Beo himself. After all he was a resourceful guy. But then again, the Man-Grimm did have a knack for finding trouble.
"Hey! The hell you think you're doing asshole?" Cardin Winchester shouted from a few tables back.
Yang looked up and her jaw nearly hit the floor, the good news was, she found Beo. The bad news was, how the hell was she going to explain this to Goodwitch. Because there was Cardin, flat on his ass while Beo squatted on the chair in front of him, a large fried drumstick in his hand.
"I said. What the hell do you think you are doing. Asshole." Cardin shouted as he got up. Beo responded by taking a bite from the fried chicken, making a face and spitting it out and into the loud boy's face almost immediately.
"Tch! You son of a bitch!" Cardin shouted before slamming his fist into Beo's face.
For all the effort Cardin seemed to have put into his punch it didn't do much to phase the blue haired Man-Grimm. Beo blinked put down the chicken leg and in the blink of an eye grabbed the metal tray on the table next to him and slammed it into the side of Cardin's head sending him back onto the floor.
Cardin got up pretty quickly and threw another punch towards Beo. Beo ducked out of the way throwing the tray into Cardin's face, leaping off chair ducking down and delivering a punch of his own into Cardin's stomach.
Cardin let out a groan as Beo's fist struck knocking the wind out of him. Another quick strike from Beo to the head and Cardin crumpled onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.
It didn't take long before the rest of Cardin's team had joined the brawl between their leader and the hungry Man-Grimm. With their brawl quickly devolving into a four v. one slug-fest.
Yang had to admit. Beo was doing a pretty good job. Although it wasn't like he wasn't getting hit at all. He was giving as much as he got and four people was a lot to get. She was tempted to join the fray but part of her was content watching the show.
"Ahhh shouldn't we be stopping them?" Ruby cried as Beo ducked under a wide haymaker, grabbed the back of Cardin's neck and his shoulder and drove a knee into his abdomen before throwing him into the rest of his team sending them all to the floor.
"Nah." Yang said. "Besides they kinda deserve it dontcha think?"
"Maybe they did Yang but still causing such a scene over a chicken wing is little absurd don't you think?" Weiss said with venom in her voice.
Yang simply shrugged at the heiress' comment. She was sure that fighting over food was a common thing for Beo if anything they should be glad he didn't try and kill them over it.
It wasn't long until Cardin and the rest of his team had gotten to their feat. Beo looked like he wasn't really paying the other three members any mind and had his gaze fixed solely on Cardin. His teeth bared and snarling. Which caused the three other members of Team CRDL to stumble back into the tables behind them.
Cardin looked at Beo almost with the same sort of disgust he had when he and his team were picking on the faunus girl earlier and reached down and pulled a steak knife off of the ground.
"Alright jackass you wanna play rough, let's play rough." Cardin said as he bull rushed Beo.
Beo didn't so much as flinch as Cardin slammed into him pushing them both into the table behind Beo. A few of the onlookers shouted in surprise at Beo grabbed the blade, wrenched it out of Cardin's hand and stabbed it into his shoulder, before kicking him off of him and back onto the floor.
At that point Yang had had enough and as much as she was enjoying the show it wouldn't be long until Goodwitch showed up and well, she didn't really want to make the fallout of this, sparring match? Exhibition? Territory dispute? Any worse than it was already going to be. Especially now seeing Beo had a massive gash in his right hand and from the looks of it Cardin was about ready to start using his aura.
She got up as Cardin's aura flared a dark steel color causing any sign of physical injury to fade slightly. his cut lip healed and the bruises on his face faded. Beo clenched his bloodied fist and got into a low stance. His face growing serious.
Before either of the two could do anything else. Yang walked up to Card threw a single right cross dropping him to the ground unconscious and then grabbed the back of Beo's shirt and started to drag him back towards the table. Beo didn't go without a fight however he struggled against her itching to finish the fight that had already ended.
"Jeez Beo I know you're excited and all but fights over food man." She said laughing a bit to herself. After about thirty seconds Beo calmed down and planted his feet as she let him go. "Still though nice job showing them what for. Racist jackasses."
Beo looked at her confused before he could gesture back the two were intercepted by the rabbit eared faunus that team CRDL had been harassing earlier.
"Um" she began her voice quiet and soft. "Thank you for stepping in. M-my name is Velvet. You really helped me back there."
Velvet looked nervous as she approached the two. Her head down as she peeked up nervously towards Beo and extended a shaky hand.
"Its uh nice to meet you." She said.
Well that's a positive. Looks like Beo can make friends after all without her help after all. Is what Yang would have thought if Beo didn't sniff the air around her, glare and then swat her hand away and pushed her aside with his bloodied hand sending her onto the ground. Before walking ahead and back to their table. His face looked twisted with disgust and rage.
Yang was a little lost for words. Sure Beo wasn't the best at dealing with people but she had never seen him treat anyone with that much disdain before. Yang helped Velvet up. The girl was rubbing the back of her head. She must have hit it on the way down.
"Hey, Um sorry bout...whatever that was. He's usually not like that he's probably still riding the adrenaline and all." Yang said. "Are you okay?"
"Yes just bumped my head is all. And its fine, I'm used to that sort of thing by now." Velvet said meekly. "If its all the same to you I think I'm going to go now, I need to clean up before class."
Velvet took a deep breath and walked out of the cafeteria. Yang made her way back to the table and to where Beo was currently using the napkins on the table to bandage up his hand. The rest of her team as well as team JNPR were silent while they watched as Beo took bottles of water to clean out the wound.
"Beo what the hell what that about?" Yang said as she slammed her hand on the table.
Beo looked at her like he didn't know what she was talking about. Unfortunately for the Man-Grimm, Yang had gotten pretty good at reading his expressions over the past few weeks. Her team however looked like they were wondering the same thing.
"Don't gimme that, you know exactly what I mean. Velvet." She said sternly. She didn't think that she of all people would be asking him this but she wanted to know before Goodwitch showed up and chewed out both of them for fighting.
Beo sighed. Before grabbing his white board and scribbling for a few seconds. When he showed the board there were the words that read 'She was weak.' next to a picture of a scared looking rabbit being set upon by a pack of four wolves. 'And the weak get eaten.'
Now it made sense, Velvet hadn't done a single thing to fight back. And to someone like Beo who's entire life had been spent fighting to just make it to the next day, the fact that she was acting like he did anything other than pick a fight over food made zero sense to Beo.
"Is that supposed to be a faunus?" Nora asked as she looked at the drawing. "They're not all like that you know."
Beo once again looked confused. `Whats a faunus?' he wrote in the margins.
The two teams looked like they were about to say something before the doors to the cafeteria slammed open and several beacon security guards rushed in and surrounded Beo. Followed by an annoyed Glynda Goodwitch.
"Mr. Cobalt" she said. "We need to talk."
Beo sank into his seat under Goodwitch's gaze after Yang finished her story, After that Goodwitch had spent a good three hours lecturing him about how improper it was to be fighting with students and how dangerous it was when he was at a clear disadvantage. It had thrown him off honestly. He was expecting to be hung upside down by her telekinesis but a talk about his recklessness was the last thing on his mind. Beo still didn't see how he was being reckless, he could have beaten Cardin if he had a chance to get some blood in him.
"Until you're aura is active Beo you cannot be so reckless." Goodwitch had said. "Not that your behavior was proper in the first place. Fighting over food."
Beo had told her that the food was only part of it. When he started he was hungry, but something about the other boy's attitude rubbed Beo the wrong way. It was like watching a young Beowulf or Ursa trying to establish dominance over a group of pups who hadn't seen their first spring hunt. Beo felt like he needed to put him in his place. After all he never bowed to something he felt he could take down.
"Right so after that incident, we come to last night." Ozpin said. " as a result of your actions with you were barred from accompanying Long and Professor Goodwitch to their excursion to the Forever Fall. So what exactly led you two to do what you did last night?"
"Weeellll I kinda felt bad that Beo had to stay cooped up at Beacon while we got to go to Forever Fall." Yang began "So I decided he deserved a night on the town in Vale, see the sights and all."
"And what was going through your head at that time Ms. Xiao Long" Goodwitch glowered.
Yang smiled. "Well I figured what could possibly go wrong."
WOW so this one took WAY longer than I thought it was going to. And was originally supposed to be a single chapter however in my outlines the amount of content and the length of the chapter as is would have meant it was going to be twice as long at almost 40 pages and 17k words so I have decided to cut it in half and post the second half once it goes through my editing process. Anyways I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and also HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND SPOOKTOBER!